Taking the field

Not too long ago, a college football coach was struggling with his team. They had lost 4 games in a row and he felt like no one was pulling their weight. So he decided to mix things up a bit. On game day, he waited until his players ran out from the locker room and the tunnel onto the field. He decided that whatever order the players came out of the locker room would be the position they would play for that game. First 11 guys : offense. Next 11 guys: defense. Everyone else: kick coverage and special teams. He further decided that, from the first 11 guys, the very first guy on the field would be the quarterback. Then the next two would be running backs. The next three would be wide receivers. And the last 5 would form the offensive line.

Now I suppose you’re thinking that this is some “feel good” story where every player excelled at their new position and they played as a team like never before. And you would be wrong. They got slaughtered and the coach got fired by the Athletic Director of the university for being incompetent.

As a leader in an organization, if you assign employees to projects and roles, especially critical ones, based on who’s available and not who is most skilled to perform in that specific role, you’re that coach…